Henze's "Natascha Ungeheuer" Sat & Sun

[MATT INGALLS]

This flyer and accompanying blurb doesn’t really do this piece justice — i’ve just been saying it’s "VERY 1971” — just go online and listen to some of it and you will get an idea:

3 ensembles, baritone and percussion (including playing parts of a junked car) soloists, lots of tape parts, and a libretto criticizing "leftist intellectuals preaching socialist values whilst essentially living the same bourgeois middle class lifestyle, identifying with the proletariat in words only.”

On a personal note: The part i’m playing was written for Gunter Hampel, who passed away last month, and i get to play bass clarinet, vibes (notated and free improv), piano, and ocarina.  (… my percussion debut with Steve Schick conducting, no less!) 

I believe the program also features a solo guitar piece by Henze performed by David Tanenbaum.

-m

Join us for a Spectacular Henze Concert Series

In celebration of his upcoming centennial, The Worn Chamber could not be more pleased to be presenting composer Hans Werner Henze's outrageous and rarely performed mini-opera The Tedious Way to the Apartment of Natascha Ungeheuer at the Historic Bayview Opera House this June 13th and 14th, 2026.

For those who already know and love Henze’s work, this is not simply another concert series. It is a celebration of everything he stood for: his commitment to beauty and struggle, his belief that art could be an act of resistance, and his remarkable ability to bridge worlds — classical and contemporary, political and personal, European and universal. For those unfamiliar, this spectacular, radical and timely piece is like NOTHING you've ever heard before. If you would like to learn more about the composition, please go here.

Featuring Conductors Stephen Schick & Jaco Wong, Solo Vocalist Hadleigh Adams, Percussionist Greg Messa, Solo Guitarist David Tannenbaum and a crackerjack ensemble of 15 other premier Bay Area contemporary music players, this isn't one to miss!

Tickets are available here.